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THE entire Antarctic ice cap could be turned into a vast detector to look for
neutrinos. Researchers behind the project say that the continent-sized detector
could help solve one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries: where the highest-energy
cosmic rays come from.

“It’s a very bold experiment,” says Pierre Sokolsky, an expert on high-energy
cosmic rays at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. “These guys are the
best hope for a new technique that may be applicable not just for neutrinos but
for charged cosmic rays as well.”

Cosmic rays are particles such as protons that bombard the Earth from…

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